Abstract
Obesity and its comorbidities are currently considered an epidemic, and the involved pathophysiology is well studied. Recently, the gut microbiota has emerged as a new potential therapeutic target for the treatment of obesity. Diet and antibiotics are known to play crucial roles in changes in the microbiota ecosystem and the disruption of its balance; therefore, the manipulation of gut microbiota may represent a strategy for obesity treatment. Fecal microbiota transplantation, during which fecal microbiota from a healthy donor is transplanted to an obese subject, has aroused interest as an effective approach for the treatment of obesity. To determine its success, a multiomics approach was used that combined metagenomics and metaproteomics to study microbiota composition and function.
To do this, a study was performed in rats that evaluated the effect of a hypercaloric diet on the gut microbiota, and this was combined with antibiotic treatment to deplete the microbiota before fecal microbiota transplantation to verify its effects on gut microbiota-host homeostasis. Our results showed that a high-fat diet induces changes in microbiota biodiversity and alters its function in the host. Moreover, we found that antibiotics depleted the microbiota enough to reduce its bacterial content. Finally, we assessed the use of fecal microbiota transplantation as an obesity therapy, and we found that it reversed the effects of antibiotics and reestablished the microbiota balance, which restored normal functioning and alleviated microbiota disruption.
